Kobe Bryant died on Sunday, Jan. 26 after a helicopter he was traveling on crashed in Southern California. Bryant was one of nine victims in the crash, which happened after the aircraft hit a ravine in Calabasas. On Wednesday, actor James Patrick Stuart added his thoughts to the conversation, tweeting about the mountains the helicopter hit.
“I went to Jr. High School a few miles from where Kobe Bryant’s helicopter went down,” he wrote on Jan. 29. “Those mountains are the same ones from the opening sequence of the MASH tv show. The 101 freeway rises into them. God help even the finest pilot using that freeway to visually navigate in fog.”
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It was previously reported that pilot Ara Zobayan had received special permission to fly at less than the basic visual flight rules of a 1,000-foot ceiling and 3 miles of visibility. NBC News confirmed on Friday that while Zobayan had the proper federal certification to fly by instrument flight rules, he would have been required to observe the licensing held by Island Express Helicopters, which owns the helicopter that crashed. Because of this, Zobayan was not legally allowed to navigate with his instruments because Island Express did not have the necessary federal certification.
“Speaking generally, a pilot has to observe any limitations on the company he or she works for, regardless of the pilot’s personal ratings,” the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement. “If a company is not authorized to conduct flights in bad-weather conditions, the pilot while flying for that company can only conduct flights in visual conditions.”
“That said,” the FAA added, “A pilot has a lot of discretion in how to respond to an emergency situation.”
In addition, the helicopter was not equipped with a safety system that had been previously recommended by the NTSB, and was not adopted by the Federal Aviation Administration. The NTSB had recommended a terrain and awareness and warning system, or TAWS, which better informs pilots when they are flying in dangerous or difficult conditions and warns them when they are too close to terrain.
There was very thick fog in the area on Sunday and weather is one of the biggest factors in the investigation of the crash. Zobayan was an experienced pilot, having flown more than 1,250 hours on the Sikorsky S-76B helicopter and over 8,200 hours in general, and he flew nearly the same route on Saturday in clear conditions.
The other victims of the crash included Bryant’s 13-year-old daughter Gianna, Gianna’s basketball teammates Alyssa Altobelli and Payton Chester, Altobelli’s parents John and Keri Altobelli, Chester’s mom Sarah Chester, girls’ basketball coach Christina Mauser and Zobayan. The helicopter was traveling to the Mamba Sports Academy, which is located in Newbury Park, California
Photo Credit: Getty / Clicks Images
